Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Stop random arrests of Muslim men on IS pretext: Muslim organisations

Stop random arrests of Muslim men on IS pretext: Muslim organisations

Six Muslim organisations have come together to denounce the Islamic State
(IS) as “unIslamic” and “terrorist” but have also exhibited concern
over what they called a conspiracy to target and arrest educated young
Muslim men under the “pretext of IS”.

This, they apprehend, is a ploy to create terror among the community,
which will create a problem for the country in the long run. “Arrest of
innocent Muslim youths on one hand, and steps for release of the
accused in big Hindutva terror cases (on the other), prove that the
ruling party is implementing its communal agenda and its slogan of
‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ was a mirage,” the organisations said Monday. The six groups are Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Ahle
Hadees, All-India Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Milli Council, and the Welfare
Party.

Alleging that there appears to be a motive behind demonising the
community, S Q R T Ilyas of All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and
Welfare Party said Home Minister Rajnath Singh
had said at a counter-terror conference held in March last year that
there was no IS in India. “What explains the vacillations since,” he
asked. “Has one year suddenly made most educated young (Muslims)
suspects?”

The group claimed that in 2014 only 18 of 141 people apprehended were chargesheeted, and the remaining 123 were found innocent.
Most of these people, too, would probably be released by higher
courts, they said, alleging that young men from the community are picked
up randomly and charged with being either terrorists or sympathisers.
They made seven demands of the NDA government, including “full expose
of the Hindutva terror network uncovered by slain (Mumbai Police) ATS
chief Hemant Karkare, and cases brought to light by admissions of Swami
Aseemanand”. Thy also demanded formation of a panel to work as
“watchdog” and look into cases of arrests made on “mere suspicion”.